Automotive Electronics Blog

Let it cruise

For a US state, Nevada is quite fascinating, not only because of Las Vegas. However, getting a fun car and cruise up and down the Strip is an experience of its own. Even though traffic usually is slow, for us tourists this is fairly dangerous since the city changes its face every few months and there are so many new things to gape at every time. Now Nevada is getting a new kind of attraction which may in future even allow ALL occupants to lean back, sip some Gin Tonic and take a look at the latest megalomanic casino and hotel creation.

The cardiac car

Take an ECG sensor, install it in a car and you get a fatigue-warning solution - in addition to the medical heart monitor that's still working. That's what British Plessey Semiconductor has developed using a sensor solution that doesn't require the eleborate wiring known from the doctor's office.

The lifestyle car

Swarm intelligence can be a good thing - billions of generations of ants and bees vouch for that. When driving on an average street or an average motorway, I often wish for the intelligence of even a housefly taking hold of some drivers, not to mention a collective wit. A first step in that direction is being presented right now at a Japanese lifestyle electronics show.

Restructuring for safety

Sensor clusters will be integrated into airbag control units in more than 50 percent of automobile platforms by 2016 in order to support ESC functionality. This tendency toward higher integration is on the rise. In order to keep up, Continental’s Chassis & Safety division has adapted its organization. Among the results is the merging of the activities in the field of inertial sensors and sensor clusters with the airbag control unit activities into a new business unit, Passive Safety & Sensorics (PSS).

Control over F1 cars

When there are 50 people working at high speed on a strange looking, logo-adorned vehicle and one guy sitting low and dry who doesn't do much more than tapping a pedal with his big toe, this guy is the public hero and the whole thing is called Formula 1 racing. These days, even the big toe tapping isn't much of a challenge anymore, since there are so many sensors and actors at work.

IAA 2011: An extra eye on the road

One of the hottest among the hot topics at IAA 2011 - Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung - in Frankfurt is safety. Safety for driver and passengers but also for pedestrians and all the other traffic on the road.

Signal conditioning

Among the most used electronic components in modern cars are sensors. Since they are omnipresent, they came into focus for space saving. Most (analogue) sensing components can’t shrink much but the ‘back end’ like signal conditioning can.

Sensors against collisions

A big deal for Jenoptik, manufacturer of optical components: The East-Germany-based company just signed a long-term delivery contract with automotive supplier Magna and expands its production of sensors for the automotive industry.

Model truck

Inefficient driving techniques can increase carbon emissions and raise fuel consumption by as much as 10%. For a company with 20 trucks, each driven 120,000 kilometres a year, this translates to 200 tons

Sensitive for crash situations

More safety – less dead victims: Freescale Semiconductor expands its Xtrinsic sensing portfolio with “intelligent” radar technology. Using Silicon Germanium (SiGe) instead of Gallium Arsenid (GaAs), the 77 GHz chipset enables vehicles to sense potential crash situations, claims the company.